The quest for loudspeakers that more perfectly reproduce recorded sound has intensified since the introduction of recording techniques that eliminate background noise and restore the dynamic range of the original performance.
One theoretical model of "perfect" sound reproduction is that produced by a pulsating sphere which radiates sound outwardly in all directions away from the point at the center of the spherical "loudspeaker". The rays of sound waves would diverge outwardly and interferences between sound waves would thereby be eliminated. Practitioners who strive to approach this ideal refer to it as "point-source omnidirectional" sound dispersion.
In the 1940's, before the advent of stereo sound, a method of dispersing sound was employed which remains the closest approach to point-source omnidirectional sound dispersion yet achieved. A conic reflecting surface was positioned before a vertically-firing driver in a facing relationship. Sound waves were reflected outwardly, away from the central vertical axis of the system, radially 360 degrees in horizontal planes. The natural dispersion of the driver about its firing axis caused sound waves to strike the conic reflecting surface at decreasing angles of incidence as the points of striking approached the base of the reflector. The corresponding decrease in the angles of reflection off the conic surface imparted a vertical dispersion of the sound in planes that include the vertical axis of the system. Thus all directional sound waves were reflected away from a series of points on and about the vertical axis of the system in the region of the geometric height of the conic reflector and, for all practical purposes, point-source omnidirectional sound was achieved.
But all efforts to adapt the above method to multiway loudspeakers have failed in terms of modern standards for low distortion sound reproduction. Recent offerings, ignoring acoustical principles, introduce various forms of distortion. None has proved successful commercially. As a consequence, the enhancements of point-source omnidirectional sound and its enhancements of sound reproduction in stereo applications has been unavailable to the audio enthusiast. The present invention addresses this need and resolves the problem using relatively inexpensive, conventional dynamic drivers.